Saturday, December 13, 2014

When Mort Altman (Will Swenson)
passes away, his children return home reasonably expecting to remain in town
briefly. After all, despite being raised Jewish, they have no reason to expect
to sit shiva, since their dad was an avowed atheist and their psychologist mom
(Jane Fonda) is a gentile.

However, after the funeral, Hillary
Altman informs her offspring of the dearly-departed’s dying wish that they
mourn him for a week in accordance with religious tradition. And then, she
announces that they’ve all just been grounded for seven days, as if they’re
still children.

This development doesn’t sit well with
any of the siblings, since they don’t get along and this is the first time
they’ve all been sleeping under the same roof in ages. Furthermore, their dad’s
death couldn’t have come at a more inopportune moment, since each is in the
midst of a midlife crisis.

Judd (Jason Bateman) has just learned
that his wife (Abigail Spencer) is having an affair with his boss (Dax
Shepard). Meanwhile, brother Paul’s (Corey Stoll) marriage is in jeopardy
because his wife’s (Kathryn Hahn) biological clock is ticking very loudly but
she’s been unable to get pregnant.

Then there’s playboy baby brother,
Philip (Adam Driver), a narcissist with unresolved oedipal issues, judging by
the fact that he’s dating a shrink (Connie Britton) old enough to be his
mother. He’s such a self-indulgent womanizer, he doesn’t think twice about
shamelessly flirting with an old flame (Carly Brooke Pearlstein) right in front
of his mortified girlfriend.

Finally, we have only-sister Wendy
(Tina Fey). Superficially, she seems to be the most stable of the four as a
doting mother of two with a devoted, if emotionally distant, husband (Aaron
Lazar) who at least is a great provider.

Barry’s obsession with his career on
Wall Street has come at the cost of preserving the passion and intimacy in the
relationship. So, the last thing Wendy needs now is the temptation of a
duplicitous dalliance being dangled in front of her eyes in the form of Horry
(Timothy Olyphant). However, her hunky high school sweetheart is still single,
still in shape, and still right across the street, even if he’s brain-damaged
and lives with his mother (Debra Monk).

All
of these sticky situations serve primarily as fodder for a sophisticated brand
of humor in This Is Where I Leave You, an alternately
droll and laugh out loud dramedy directed by Shawn Levy (Date Night).
Adroitly adapted to the screen by Jonathan Tropper, author of the best seller of the same name, this relentlessly-witty film features
some of the funniest repartee around as it simultaneously explores a laundry
list of sobering themes ranging from religion and mortality to love and
betrayal.

A character-driven examination of a dysfunctional Jewish
family about as wacky as they come.

Excellent (4 stars)

Rated
R for profanity, sexuality and drug use

Running
time: 103 minutes

Distributor:
Warner Brothers Home Entertainment Group

Blu-ray/DVD
Combo Pack Extras: Deleted and extended scenes; Points of Departure; The Gospel
According to Rabbi Boner; and a discussion and a commentary with director Shawn
Levy and scriptwriter Jonathan Tropper.

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The Sly Fox Film Reviews publishes the content of film critic Kam Williams. Voted Most Outstanding Journalist of the Decade by the Disilgold Soul Literary Review in 2008, Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications around the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee and Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.